Boppin' the Blues
"Boppin' the Blues" is a 1956 song written by Carl Perkins and Howard "Curley" Griffin and released as a single on Sun Records in May, 1956. The single was released as a 45 and 78, Sun 243, backed with "All Mama's Children", a song co-written by Carl Perkins with Sun labelmate Johnny Cash.[1] The single reached no. 9 on the Billboard country and western chart, no. 47 on the Cashbox pop singles chart, and no. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. The single was also released in Canada on the Quality label as #1570. The record was reissued in 1984 on the Collectables label on the Back to Back Hit Series featuring Sun Records as 3090 and on the Sun Golden Treasure Series in 1979 as Sun 9.
Howard "Curley" Griffin was a singer and disc jockey from Jackson, Tennessee who also recorded rock and roll songs on the Atomic Records label from 1955 to 1957, such as "Got Rockin' On My Mind", Atomic 305, released in 1957. Griffin also co-wrote "Dixie Fried" with Carl Perkins in 1956.
Notable Recordings
The song has been recorded by other musicians, including Ricky Nelson, who recorded the song on his first Imperial album in 1957. Gene Vincent, Brian Setzer, The Kingbees, Robert Gordon with Link Wray, Johnny Rivers, The Nighthawks, Hank C. Burnette, Carla Rugg, Jussi, Merrel Fankhauser, The Razorbacks, Tarwater, The Shakers, and Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers [2] also recorded the song. Carl Perkins also recorded the song in 1970 in collaboration with the band NRBQ on the eponymous album released on Columbia Records, CS 9981. The band Blackfeather had a no. 1 hit for two weeks on the Australian singles chart in October, 1972 with a recording of a song by the same name, but it was a different song and not just a re-work of the Carl Perkins song.[3] Rick Nelson performed the song on the Ozzie and Harriet TV show on ABC in 1957, along with "Your True Love", another Carl Perkins hit on Sun. The song was featured on the 1970 album Carl Perkins' Greatest Hits, Columbia LP CS 9833 and the 1986 Rhino Records collection Carl Perkins: Original Sun Greatest Hits, RNCD 75890. Carl Perkins also performed the song on the Town Hall Party syndicated TV series in 1959 and with Dave Edmunds and The Stray Cats on the 1985 HBO/Cinemax special Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session.
References
- ↑ The Carl Perkins Sun Collection.
- ↑ L.A.M.F. Live at the Village Gate 1977 CD
- ↑ International One Hit Wonders.
Sources
- Perkins, Carl, and McGee, David. Go, Cat, Go!: The Life and Times of Carl Perkins, The King of Rockabilly. Hyperion Press, 1996. ISBN 0-7868-6073-1
- Morrison, Craig. Go Cat Go!: Rockabilly Music and Its Makers. University of Illinois Press, 1998.
- The Carl Perkins Sun Collection.
- Guterman, Jimmy. (1998.) "Carl Perkins." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 412–413.
- Naylor, Jerry; Halliday, Steve. The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before They Called It Rock and Roll. Milwaukee, Wisc.: Hal Leonard. ISBN 978-1-4234-2042-2. OCLC 71812792.
